Weekly News Update

*“Lawyers throughout the nation,” reads the preamble of a resolution unanimously passed by the ABA’s law practice division last month, “are urged to celebrate ‘Love Your Lawyer Day’ to help promote a positive and more respected image of lawyers and their contributions to society.” [Wall Street Journal]

*No place, save the Library of Congress, can match the collection at Harvard Law School. Now, the librarians are feeding some 40 million pages through a scanner to create a database of American case law to be offered free on the Internet, allowing instant retrieval of vital records that usually must be paid for. [NY Times]

*Ever so gradually, some of our state bars are embracing a duty of technology competence, which requires lawyers to “keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology.” What might striving for technical excellence look like for lawyers? [Bloomberg]

*A NY State Supreme Court judge on Wednesday tossed out a MLB arbitration decision that gave the Washington Nationals millions more in annual broadcast rights fees from the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. It was a significant victory for the Baltimore Orioles-controlled network in the protracted dispute and a setback for the Nationals that adds a small cloud of uncertainty over the team’s near-term finances. [Washington Post]

*Restaurant owners can now allow dogs on their outdoor patios because of a bill signed into law last week. The new law, effective immediately, permits restaurants to allow customers’ dogs in outdoor dining areas, but only if a separate entrance doesn’t require the animal to walk indoors or where food is being prepared. [USA Today]

*“We have an arsenal of smoking guns,” a lawyer for a death row inmate told the Supreme Court on Monday. The justices were considering a case on race discrimination in jury selection, and there seemed to be consensus that prosecutors in Georgia had crossed a constitutional line in 1987 in their efforts to exclude all blacks from a jury that would hear a capital case against a black man, Timothy T. Foster, who was accused of killing a white woman, Queen Madge White. [NY Times]